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By MURRAY HUBBARD
1 March 2010
Almost
40 years after launching its first Z car in Australia, Nissan has
released its most powerful roadster, the 370Z. It comes with
major improvements over the car it replaces, the 350Z Roadster.
The 370Z Roadster has an identical mechanical package to the 370Z
coupe launched in May last year. But the roadster gets new 19-inch
wheels which will come as a no-cost addition to the coupe, which
has 18-inch wheels, from April this year. The roadster also gets a
one-touch fast-folding lined roof for the first time. The 350Z's
roof had to be manually locked in. The new roof includes a larger
glass window. The deployment time for the roof is around 20
seconds.
As the most powerful Z convertible yet, the 370Z returns the
Japanese car to where it all started with the 240Z a high
performance sports car which had a top speed of more than 190
km/h.
Visually the roadster looks the part of a high-performance
machine. At 5.5 seconds to 100 km/h for the six-speed manual and
5.8 seconds for the seven-speed automatic, the car also walks the
walk. The rag top roof line has a cantilever appearance which
enhances the car's already tough road stance. The bigger wheels
complement the car's aggressive road presence even further. Both
the coupe and roadster have a 100 mm shorter wheelbase than the
350Z cars which gives the car a flatter, wider stance.
The overall length is also shorter by 65mm at 4,250mm To reduce
weight the 370Z has aluminium bonnet, doors and boot lid which has
trimmed weight by around 32 kg from the 350Z. However, Nissan have
added extra structural integrity to the 370Z roadster with
reinforcement over and above the 370Z coupe in the A-pillars, side
sills as well as reinforced door and boot openings.
At the heart of the roadster is Nissan's 245 kW, 3.7-litre V6
engine.
Nissan has simplified the 370Z line up into a single,
highly-specified model. The main choices are transmission type and
colour. The manufacturer's list price is $74,990 for the six-speed
manual and $77,990 for the seven-speed auto. At the launch in New
Zealand we were able to drive both variants in a day and a half of
road tests on highways ideally suited to top-down motoring.
Our first driving impressions are that Nissan have got this
soft-top right first go. The body stiffening has resulted in
negligible scuttle shake - the scourge of convertibles - even over
the roughest of made roads the South Island could offer. The V6
engine, with 363 Nm of torque on tap at 5200 rpm is a
free-revving, but quiet achieving power plant that gets better
with every Nissan upgrade. In the auto we liked the SynchroRev
match that emits a sound like a manual changer as you use the
paddle gears to downshift. Fuel economy is improved over the 350Z
with 10.9 litres per 100 km on the highway from the automatic and
11.2 L/100 km from the manual.
There is some tyre noise inside the cabin, as you'd expect in a
convertible, but wind noise and interference with passengers is
low with the roof down, even at speeds in excess of 100 km/h. The
wind deflector that sits just behind the head-rests does its job
well. The shorter wheelbase suits the car not only aesthetically,
but also in handling. It is more agile and responsive than the
350Z. After doing more than 500 km of road testing in a day we got
out of the car almost as fresh as we got in. The seats are
comfortable and hug the passengers in a supportive way without
squeezing them.
The boot is small, as you'd expect, but Nissan claim it will still
take a full size golf bag, plus some extra soft luggage.
The highly successful 240Z was followed by the 260Z and later by
the 280Z and 300Z that became heavier as time went on with the
cars moving away from the company's initial intention of being
'lighter, powerful, faster' sports cars. The 370 Z roadster
returns to the Z ethos and could well earn its own nickname as the
‘poor man's Porsche’.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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